Forrest Medical Centre

A construction project to merge two doctors’ surgeries in Coventry is underway and is set to complete in autumn this year.

Forrest Medical Centre has been commissioned by Coventry County Council and when completed will comprise what was formerly the Canley and Chapelfields surgeries.

The development site is located in Prior Deram Walk, Canley, and has been supported by Coventry City Council and the Coventry and Rugby NHS Clinical Commissioning Group.

The surgery is to be purpose-built to offer improved access to GPs so they do not lose time, travelling from one surgery to another. The new facility will help reduce the number of trips patients need to make to hospital, as well as being more cost effective than running two sites.

The Canley site was chosen for the development because it is the main GP surgery in a regeneration area, while there are a number of other practices near the Chapelfields site.

Arden Estate Partnerships (AEP) and Forrest Medical Centre (FMC) have been working with Coventry City Council over a number of years to bring the new health centre to the Canley area. AEP were awarded the contract in November 2014 and are set to reach the delivery date in autumn.

The new development will combine the services that are currently offered in each of the practices in the Canley and Chapelfields surgeries. This will result in patients being offered more services and a wider choice of times to choose from, within a new state of the art facility, situated in a convenient location.

The facility has been designed to enable flexibility and efficiency around patient flows, as well as to facilitate future growth.

A number of cycling facilities, for ease of access, will also be added to the site to promote sustainable travel within the area. AEP have already invested over £34 million locally through new development facilities, in aid of addressing inequalities in health and social care estate and the new Forrest Medical Centre will be the fifth development within AEP’s portfolio.

Crowngate Construction are acting as the main contractor on the scheme to build the 750m² development at Prior Deram Walk and are working towards a scheduled practical completion date of August this year.

The site is set to become operational in October 2015.

History of Forrest Medical Centre

The Forrest Medical Centre can trace its history back beyond the beginning of the NHS when Dr Elford practiced in Regent Street. He was joined by Dr Ballentine, Dr Coghill and eventually by Dr George Forrest. At this stage the surgery was in “the old house” at 63 Allesley Old Road which was an inappropriate location for modern practice; it was later replaced by the current Mount Street surgery in about 1975.

The branch surgery was attached to Dr Forrest’s house in Canley until 1990 when the current Prior Deram Walk surgery was built. At this time we became the Forrest Medical Centre in honour of our, by then retired, senior partner.

The Canley site now also houses district nurses, health visitors, midwives, a counsellor, a dietician and various other health professionals.

Shortly the Canley and Chapelfields surgeries will combine facilities at the new Forrest Medical Centre surgery.